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2011 All-Star Slam Dunk Recap


Dunk Competitors
Seems like Griffin is closer to 6'8" or 6'8 1/2" as he was measured once at the NBA draft combine with Serge Ibaka being the actual 6'10" guy.

All Dunks in the Contest


My thoughts on the competitors (since judges can basically give a 7, 8, 9, or 10. I'm going to score them 35, 40, 45, or 50).

Demar Derozan: I thought he deserved a 45 on his 1st dunk, the through the legs off one foot. It was off the bounce but a lot of people have done the JR rider dunk over the years and thru the legs even off an alley isn't all that big a deal these days. Blake does the thru the legs off the bounce in pre-game warm ups all the time. The 2nd dunk, "showstopper", deserved a 50 IMO. It was really well executed although I have seen it before as a regular dunk used by Team Flight Brothers the "Werm". He should have had a 95 total in the 1st round.

Serge Ibaka: I see many people writing that he deserved a 50 for his free throw line dunk but IMO it got the 45 it deserved. Serge as seen in the picture above is tall with very long arms. He didn't dribble up to line and didn't need to get as much air as competitors in the past to dunk from the free throw line. Also the dunk finish was a rim scraper. IMO a 50 free throw line dunk is what Pippen executed in 1990. Pippen Free Throw Dunk IMO Serge's 2nd dunk, biting the stuffed animal, was a 45 also. He should have had a 90 total in the 1st round.

Javale McGee: Despite the number of attempts taken, I felt McGee deserved a 50 for the 2 balls on 2 different rims dunk. I was definitely creative and required considerably timing. It's not my favorite type of dunk since it's not one of those high air acrobatic types but still considerably difficult. For the 3 ball dunk, I felt that was a 45 dunk. Following up with the 2 balls with another jugging type lessens the effect. He should have had a 95 out of the 1st round.

In the final round, I felt McGee should have had a 45 for his under the rim rock the cradle. It was nice but with the height and lack of power on the dunk, it's not quite a 50. For his last dunk a straight forward alley one handed dunk, it was a 40.

Blake Griffin: Brent Barry mentioned speaking with Blake after the contest and BG himself said he was actually a bit disappointed in his contest. Despite winning, he didn't do some of the dunks he actually wanted. I pretty much felt the same way. In round one, Blake attempted IMO what was the coolest looking and most difficult dunk in the contest. It's around the 2:30 mark in the above youtube video. The first dunk where he attempted a one foot 360 where he brought the ball down below his waist had a really weird in-air rotation. I haven't even seen that by amateur dunk specialists. Unfortunately that type of acrobatic dunk, you have to nail in the 1st couple attempts because it require maximum effort leaping. Blake couldn't finish it and settled for an off of one foot 360 2 handed statue of liberty dunk, which should have gotten a 45 IMO. The 2nd dunk of the 1st round went even less successfully. Baron couldn't give him the pass he wanted and Blake couldn't execute the 360 off the side of the backboard. He settled for a windmill on the 7th try instead. IMO that's only a 40 dunk. So Blake should have only had a 85 out of the 1st round.

In the final round, Blake's off the backboard elbow dunk off one foot take off got the 50 it deserved. Quite a few people do some variation of the elbow dunk but usually off of 2 feet from right under the hoop. As far as the car dunk goes, it wasn't really the best executed but I guess I would say it's still a 45. It's still riskier than jumping over people because if you screw that up you're face planted on the hood. Marko Milic in the 90s completely dunked over the body of a honda del sol. Milic dunk over car However that's a tiny convertible as opposed to a full size sedan like the Kia Optima. Kia clearly had marketing on their mind so they didn't bother rolling out a smaller car that Blake actually had a chance of clearing over the top. Anyways there's no way the Clippers would have let the franchise attempt to go over the top of a full sized sedan.

All in all some very nice ideas by all four competitors in this year's contest. I hope Blake comes back and gets more practice in so he can complete the dunks he actually planned as opposed to needing to go with less difficult plan B dunks.

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